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<div><div class="header">
  <div class="headertitle"><div class="title">Overriding Malloc</div></div>
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<div class="contents">
<div class="textblock"><p>Overriding the standard <code>malloc</code> (and <code>new</code>) can be done either <em>dynamically</em> or <em>statically</em>.</p>
<h2>Dynamic override</h2>
<p>This is the recommended way to override the standard malloc interface.</p>
<h3>Dynamic Override on Linux, BSD</h3>
<p>On these ELF-based systems we preload the mimalloc shared library so all calls to the standard <code>malloc</code> interface are resolved to the <em>mimalloc</em> library. </p><div class="fragment"><div class="line">&gt; env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libmimalloc.so myprogram</div>
</div><!-- fragment --><p>You can set extra environment variables to check that mimalloc is running, like: </p><div class="fragment"><div class="line">&gt; env MIMALLOC_VERBOSE=1 LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libmimalloc.so myprogram</div>
</div><!-- fragment --><p> or run with the debug version to get detailed statistics: </p><div class="fragment"><div class="line">&gt; env MIMALLOC_SHOW_STATS=1 LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libmimalloc-debug.so myprogram</div>
</div><!-- fragment --><h3>Dynamic Override on MacOS</h3>
<p>On macOS we can also preload the mimalloc shared library so all calls to the standard <code>malloc</code> interface are resolved to the <em>mimalloc</em> library. </p><div class="fragment"><div class="line">&gt; env DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES=/usr/lib/libmimalloc.dylib myprogram</div>
</div><!-- fragment --><p>Note that certain security restrictions may apply when doing this from the <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43941322/dyld-insert-libraries-ignored-when-calling-application-through-bash">shell</a>.</p>
<h3>Dynamic Override on Windows</h3>
<p><span id="override_on_windows">Dynamically overriding on mimalloc on Windows</span> is robust and has the particular advantage to be able to redirect all malloc/free calls that go through the (dynamic) C runtime allocator, including those from other DLL's or libraries. As it intercepts all allocation calls on a low level, it can be used reliably on large programs that include other 3rd party components. There are four requirements to make the overriding work well:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Use the C-runtime library as a DLL (using the <code>/MD</code> or <code>/MDd</code> switch).</li>
<li>Link your program explicitly with the <code>mimalloc.lib</code> export library for the <code>mimalloc.dll</code>. (which must be compiled with <code>-DMI_OVERRIDE=ON</code>, which is the default though). To ensure the <code>mimalloc.dll</code> is actually loaded at run-time it is easiest to insert some call to the mimalloc API in the <code>main</code> function, like <code>mi_version()</code> (or use the <code>/include:mi_version</code> switch on the linker command, or similarly, <code>#pragma comment(linker, "/include:mi_version")</code> in some source file). See the <code>mimalloc-test-override</code> project for an example on how to use this.</li>
<li>The <code>mimalloc-redirect.dll</code> must be put in the same directory as the main <code>mimalloc.dll</code> at runtime (as it is a dependency of that DLL). The redirection DLL ensures that all calls to the C runtime malloc API get redirected to mimalloc functions (which reside in <code>mimalloc.dll</code>).</li>
<li>Ensure the <code>mimalloc.dll</code> comes as early as possible in the import list of the final executable (so it can intercept all potential allocations). You can use <code>minject -l &lt;exe&gt;</code> to check this if needed.</li>
</ol>
<p>For best performance on Windows with C++, it is also recommended to also override the <code>new</code>/<code>delete</code> operations (by including <a href="include/mimalloc-new-delete.h"><code>mimalloc-new-delete.h</code></a> a single(!) source file in your project).</p>
<p>The environment variable <code>MIMALLOC_DISABLE_REDIRECT=1</code> can be used to disable dynamic overriding at run-time. Use <code>MIMALLOC_VERBOSE=1</code> to check if mimalloc was successfully redirected.</p>
<p>For different platforms than x64, you may need a specific [redirection dll](bin). Furthermore, we cannot always re-link an executable or ensure <code>mimalloc.dll</code> comes first in the import table. In such cases the [<code>minject</code>](bin) tool can be used to patch the executable's import tables.</p>
<h2>Static override</h2>
<p>On Unix-like systems, you can also statically link with <em>mimalloc</em> to override the standard malloc interface. The recommended way is to link the final program with the <em>mimalloc</em> single object file (<code>mimalloc.o</code>). We use an object file instead of a library file as linkers give preference to that over archives to resolve symbols. To ensure that the standard malloc interface resolves to the <em>mimalloc</em> library, link it as the first object file. For example: </p><div class="fragment"><div class="line">&gt; gcc -o myprogram mimalloc.o  myfile1.c ...</div>
</div><!-- fragment --><p>Another way to override statically that works on all platforms, is to link statically to mimalloc (as shown in the introduction) and include a header file in each source file that re-defines <code>malloc</code> etc. to <code>mi_malloc</code>. This is provided by <a href="https://github.com/microsoft/mimalloc/blob/master/include/mimalloc-override.h"><code>mimalloc-override.h</code></a>. This only works reliably though if all sources are under your control or otherwise mixing of pointers from different heaps may occur!</p>
<h2>List of Overrides:</h2>
<p>The specific functions that get redirected to the <em>mimalloc</em> library are:</p>
<div class="fragment"><div class="line"><span class="comment">// C</span></div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  malloc(<span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  calloc(<span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> n);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  realloc(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> newsize);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>   free(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  aligned_alloc(<span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> alignment, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">char</span>*  strdup(<span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="keywordtype">char</span>* s);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">char</span>*  strndup(<span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="keywordtype">char</span>* s, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> n);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">char</span>*  realpath(<span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="keywordtype">char</span>* fname, <span class="keywordtype">char</span>* resolved_name);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="comment">// C++</span></div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>   <span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="keyword">delete</span>(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>   <span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="keyword">delete</span>[](<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  <span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="keyword">new</span>(std::size_t n) <span class="keyword">noexcept</span>(<span class="keyword">false</span>);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  <span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="keyword">new</span>[](std::size_t n) <span class="keyword">noexcept</span>(<span class="keyword">false</span>);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  <span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="keyword">new</span>( std::size_t n, std::align_val_t align) <span class="keyword">noexcept</span>(<span class="keyword">false</span>);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  <span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="keyword">new</span>[]( std::size_t n, std::align_val_t align) <span class="keyword">noexcept</span>(<span class="keyword">false</span>);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  <span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="keyword">new</span>  ( std::size_t count, <span class="keyword">const</span> std::nothrow_t&amp; tag);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  <span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="keyword">new</span>[]( std::size_t count, <span class="keyword">const</span> std::nothrow_t&amp; tag);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  <span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="keyword">new</span>  ( std::size_t count, std::align_val_t al, <span class="keyword">const</span> std::nothrow_t&amp;);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  <span class="keyword">operator</span> <span class="keyword">new</span>[]( std::size_t count, std::align_val_t al, <span class="keyword">const</span> std::nothrow_t&amp;);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="comment">// Posix</span></div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">int</span>    posix_memalign(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>** p, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> alignment, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="comment">// Linux</span></div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  memalign(<span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> alignment, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  valloc(<span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  pvalloc(<span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> malloc_usable_size(<span class="keywordtype">void</span> *p);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  reallocf(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> newsize);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="comment">// macOS</span></div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>   vfree(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> malloc_size(<span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> malloc_good_size(<span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="comment">// BSD</span></div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  reallocarray( <span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> count, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size );</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  reallocf(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> newsize);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>   cfree(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="comment">// NetBSD</span></div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">int</span>    reallocarr(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> count, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="comment">// Windows</span></div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  _expand(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> newsize);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> _msize(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p);</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  _malloc_dbg(<span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size, <span class="keywordtype">int</span> block_type, <span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="keywordtype">char</span>* fname, <span class="keywordtype">int</span> line);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  _realloc_dbg(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> newsize, <span class="keywordtype">int</span> block_type, <span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="keywordtype">char</span>* fname, <span class="keywordtype">int</span> line);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  _calloc_dbg(<span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> count, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size, <span class="keywordtype">int</span> block_type, <span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="keywordtype">char</span>* fname, <span class="keywordtype">int</span> line);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>*  _expand_dbg(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p, <span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> size, <span class="keywordtype">int</span> block_type, <span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="keywordtype">char</span>* fname, <span class="keywordtype">int</span> line);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">size_t</span> _msize_dbg(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p, <span class="keywordtype">int</span> block_type);</div>
<div class="line"><span class="keywordtype">void</span>   _free_dbg(<span class="keywordtype">void</span>* p, <span class="keywordtype">int</span> block_type);</div>
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